Parrish man growing medical marijuana rejects plea bargain

Robert Jordan refuses the state's plea deal because it required him to give up his right to a fair trial or stop cultivating the plant.

By SHANNON McFARLANDshannon.mcfarland@heraldtribune.com

A Parrish man whose home was raided for the marijuana plants he cultivated to help treat his wife's disease said he has turned down a plea bargain proffered by the state.

Robert Jordan, who grows marijuana to help treat Cathy Jordan's Lou Gehrig's disease, said he refused the state's plea deal because it required him to give up his right to a fair trial or stop cultivating the plant.

The State Attorney's Office and Jordan's attorney have negotiated for weeks about possible charges against Jordan. Jordan said potential charges are "still up in the air" as the talks continue, but he expects he will be charged soon.

Jordan said the plant is the only substance that relieves the depression, lost appetite and muscle spasms that plague his wife. Most patients with Lou Gehrig's disease die after three to five years, muscle failure causing them to choke or suffocate; medicating with cannabis, Cathy Jordan, 62, has miraculously survived more than 20 years beyond her doctors original predictions.

"I can't stop doing what I'm doing and let my wife die," Jordan, 64, said. "They only thing I can see is to throw myself on the mercy of the court."

While the Florida state legislature has never made a law permitting medicinal use of cannabis, with a bill named for Cathy Jordan this session becoming the first medical marijuana measure proposed in years, the courts have made exceptions in certain medical cases.

In 1988, a Broward County judge ordered that Elvy Musikka was not guilty for using and cultivating marijuana based on "medical necessity." With doctors and evidence to back her up, the judge ordered that she be allowed to continue the treatment, which had prevented glaucoma from taking the sight of remaining her eye.

Musikka's case set the precedent for the defense, with a few later cases supporting the decision. Still, the defense is rarely heard in court and relatively unknown even among attorneys.

"Certainly the more often the medical defense is applied and succeeds, the more legitimacy it gives to medical marijuana," said Karen Goldstein, the director of NORML of Florida, which advocates for marijuana reform. "The problem is a lot of attorneys don't know the defense exists in Florida and a lot of judges don't want to hear it."

'A political quagmire'

Robert Jordan said for him, it is the only defense he has — he does not believe it was wrong, but he did grow the plants. Yet he said prosecutors don't want to let him go and potentially open the door for claims of medicinal use.

Brian Iten, the assistant state attorney reviewing the case, said his office is considering materials submitted by Jordan's attorney, but charges are still pending.

Jordan's attorney, Michael Minardi, said he has applied the defense in several other cases for ailing patients who turned to marijuana after other drugs did not work or left them with debilitating side effects.

He said prosecutors have "complete discretion" to press charges or not. In cases that have make it to court with a medical defense, several have had charges dismissed or substantially reduced.

One of the troubles Minardi faces is bringing in doctors from other states: he has not found a doctor in Florida willing to testify about medical marijuana, many fearing repercussions on their medical licenses.

"It's a political quagmire that we're in, that we like to punish our citizens for something that is benign," Minardi said. "People's lives are more damaged by being arrested and charged for using it."

Minardi and a man he helped defend have started I'm a Patient Not a Criminal, a non-profit group that aims to raise awareness and aid people turning to cannabis for treatment.

Goldstein, of Florida's NORML chapter, said "no jury in the world" would convict Cathy Jordan, an outspoken supporter of medical marijuana while wheelchair-bound and needing constant care. The same defense should apply to Robert Jordan, she said.

"He's not manufacturing something to sell to people. He's growing medicine for his wife," Goldstein said. "They should just drop it, because if they try to bring him into court it's just going to cost them a lot of money."